Microsoft will count the first votes of the 2016 presidential race

When Iowa residents on Monday cast the first votes in the 2016 presidential race, Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) will be tallying the results.

The Redmond company developed mobile applications to track the nomination races, replacing the telephone reporting system that was responsible for Iowa’s 2012 miscount.

During the last presidential primary, the Iowa Republican Party incorrectly named former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney as the state’s GOP nominee. Weeks later, a final count revealed a narrow win for former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum.

Now, Republican and Democrat officials from nearly 1,700 caucuses around Iowa will use smartphones – iPhones, Windows and Android phones – and tablets to track votes through separate Microsoft Azure cloud-based mobile applications created for each party.

Microsoft’s technology will report results faster and decrease the potential for human error, according to Dan’l Lewin, the company’s executive vice president for technology and civic engagement.

“Computers do math pretty well,” he said during a phone interview from Iowa on Monday. “Using mobile smart devices of all kinds through a centralized Azure-based cloud service will ensure a new level of accuracy.”

Party officials historically reported results by entering tallies into a telephone keypad. Microsoft's reporting method still relies on officials to keep track of votes, but the company's software automatically searches for anomalies and identifies potential problems.

Tracking the Iowa caucuses will give Microsoft an international stage through which to promote CEO Satya Nadella’s cloud-first, mobile-first vision for the company and demonstrate Microsoft’s potential in both spaces. Microsoft’s cloud services division grew to $6.3 billion in revenue during the company’s most-recent quarter.

Democratic candidate and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders’ campaign, however, has questioned the company’s motivations, noting Microsoft employees gave more than $200,000 to opponent Hillary Clinton’s 2008 campaign. Sanders’ aides have created an independent reporting system to check the results.

Microsoft’s focus is on providing infrastructure, Lewin said, not intervening in the political process.

“We do business with pick-your-favorite competitive environment,” Lewin said. “Whether it's Coke and Pepsi, or Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs, we do business at a core platform and technology level with everyone.”

Iowa voters on Monday night will select the state’s picks for the Republican and Democratic candidates who could compete in the 2016 presidential election in November. Microsoft will work with reporters through a Des Moines-based media center to help report results to the public.